Friday, July 23, 2010

Shelby County's Carbon Footprint

Shelby County has a large footprint ... and now it knows how big its carbon footprint is, too.

Data presented at a meeting between Shelby County mayor Joe Ford and local activists Wednesday showed that Shelby County government emitted a total of 102,174 tons of CO2 during the 2008 - 2009 fiscal year.

JB

Joe Ford

Shelby County Schools had a total carbon footprint of 89,668 tons for the same year.

In total, almost 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions came from government buildings and facilities. Twenty-one percent was from employee commutes.

"The mayor wants to do some sort of energy efficiency program," says John Freeman with the mayor's office.

The program, which would begin in mid-August, will draw directly from employee suggestions solicited by survey earlier this year.

Freeman says they could include encouraging employees to bike to work or ride public transportation, to carpool with other employees, or to take advantage of a four-day work week.

Other topics at the meeting included the county's recycling program, ground water and environmental infrastructure, and the possibility of becoming one of 15 deployment communities nationally for a new electric vehicle program.